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Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Monday 1/30/2023 Three years to the day after the World Health Organization sounded the highest level of global alert over Covid-19, it said Monday the pandemic remains an international emergency. The UN health agency’s emergency committee on Covid-19 met last Friday for a 14th time since the start of the crisis. Following that meeting, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus “concurs with the advice offered by the committee regarding the ongoing […]
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Friday 1/27/2023 Japan’s government will drop its recommendation to wear masks indoors and downgrade its medical classification for Covid-19, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday. The changes, effective from early May, will classify the disease on the same level as the flu, down from its current status on par with tuberculosis and SARS. “As for masking, regardless of indoors and outdoors, the decision will be left up to individuals,” Kishida […]
by Sébastien Ricci and Vivian Lin Agence France-Presse WUHAN, China (AFP) — Residents of China’s Wuhan said Monday they were hopeful for the future and no longer afraid of Covid-19, three years after the city was locked down over what was then a mysterious virus. Since Beijing ordered Wuhan sealed off in a bid to suffocate the outbreak in January 2020, Covid has devastated the planet, killing millions and plunging the global economy into turmoil. […]
Beijing, China | AFP | China reported nearly 13,000 Covid-related deaths in hospitals between January 13 and 19, after a top health official said the vast majority of the population had already been infected. The death toll came a week after China said nearly 60,000 people had died with Covid in hospitals in just over a month — but there has been widespread scepticism over official data since Beijing abruptly axed anti-virus controls last […]
Beijing, China (AFP) Beijing said Wednesday it would scrap visa-free transit for South Korean and Japanese citizens, stepping up a diplomatic tit-for-tat after both countries placed travel curbs on visitors from China. South Korea and Japan have in recent weeks imposed fresh travel requirements on all visitors from China, as the world’s most populous country battles a surge in Covid cases. China hit back at what it deems “unacceptable” curbs, ending short-term visas for all […]
Kampala, Uganda (AFP) Uganda said on Monday it was expecting to declare an end to an Ebola virus outbreak that emerged late last year and has claimed the lives of at least 56 people. If no new case is reported by Tuesday, the health ministry said it would formally announce the end of the outbreak on Wednesday. According to the World Health Organization, an outbreak of the disease ends when there are no new […]
Hong Kong, China (AFP) by Su Xinqi Hugging her boyfriend goodbye, student Yuri Tan was among hundreds excitedly heading north across Hong Kong’s border with mainland China on Sunday as pandemic travel restrictions were mostly lifted, finally allowing separated families to reunite. “I am going back because I don’t have to undergo quarantine anymore,” an elated Tan told AFP, clutching luggage containing a few boxes of fever medication for family. Tan, 23, was planning […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Almost 90 percent of people in China’s third most populous province have now been infected with Covid-19, a top official said Monday, as the country battles an unprecedented surge in cases. Kan Quancheng, director of the health commission for central Henan province, told a press conference that “as of January 6, 2023, the province’s Covid infection rate is 89.0 percent.” With a population of 99.4 million, the figures suggest about 88.5 […]
by Sara HUSSEIN / Tomohiro OSAKI Agence France-Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — In Tokyo’s Asakusa tourist district, caricaturist Masashi Higashitani is dusting off his Chinese as he prepares for an influx of travelers after Beijing ends inbound quarantine rules. “We used to say ‘ni hao’ all the time,” he said with a laugh as he whipped up a portrait in minutes. Nearly 9.6 million Chinese visited Japan in 2019, the biggest group of foreign tourists […]
Bangkok, Thailand (AFP) Thai authorities said Thursday that travellers from China could enter the kingdom without pre-departure coronavirus tests, hoping their return would be a shot in the arm for the country’s tourism sector recovery. China has experienced a surge in infections and its hospitals and crematoriums have been inundated after Beijing last month wound back tight restrictions. The United States, Canada, Japan and France are among the countries that have imposed new rules requiring […]
Beijing, China (AFP) by Jing Xuan TENG China on Thursday insisted it had been transparent with the international community about its Covid data, as it hit back against World Health Organization criticism that its tally of virus deaths was understating the true scale of its outbreak. There is mounting international concern over China’s steep rise in Covid infections since Beijing abruptly lifted years of hardline restrictions last month, with hospitals and crematoriums quickly overwhelmed. […]
by Laurie CHEN Agence France-Press BEIJING, China (AFP) — China is experiencing a huge Covid-19 surge after years of hardline containment restrictions were dismantled last month. A growing number of countries are worried about a lack of data and transparency surrounding China’s outbreak. Here is why it is sparking concern: – Unreliable data – Beijing has admitted the scale of the outbreak has become “impossible” to track following the end of mandatory mass testing last […]
